Posts Tagged ‘contest’

Wight Surf History have been given some great pics taken by Rog Powley of the 1978 South Coast Contest, including shots of Dave Gray, Keith Williams and Sid Pitman. The winner of the competition was Guy Penwarden from Wessex Surf Club. In 1976 surfing for Shore Surf Club, ex English Champion and Honorary President of […]

Apologies to Al for the lateness of this article. April saw the first in the series of the British Longboard events held in very tricky conditions down at Marine Drive, Woolacombe. With howling onshore winds and rain the contest started with 2-3ft waves but as the wind got stronger the waves gor really messed up. On the Sunday the wind dropped a little cleaning the waves up a bit. I spoke to Al after the evnt and he said ‘it was well windy but pretty fun. I won all my quater and semi heats but when it came to the final I just couldn’t find the waves, only got two in the whole heat and it wasn’t enough for a win this time. I’m gonna get into some training I think as that Matt Thomas is a gurt triathelete and I’m gonna need to be as fit as possible to beat him! Got some 8 point scores for the big roundhouse cutback in the photo sequence. that was in the earlier round though, could have done with it in the final.’

Saturday saw the first Rappanui Frostbite Event of 2012. Due to small waves, it was decide that just the Juniors should run. With a clean but small swell the groms took to the water.

Semi-final 1 saw Matt Townsend dominate the heat with a tight battle for the second spot to the final. With some great surfing and long rides Kirra Bell just edged out Jamie King and Toby Green.

Semi-final 2 was another tight affair but Dylan Hamlet styled through in first spot but it came down to a tie and a count back to determine the second place. Dom Arnold in the end just edged out Tom Francis for the final’s berth.

The final saw a dropping tide and swell but the finalist made the most of the conditions. Dom caught some great waves, Kirra contiued to find some really long rides but it in the end despite some great turns by Matt Townsend it was Dylan Hamlet with some really stylish surfing who won through. Island legend commented on how well he thought all the groms were surfing especially Kirra and Dylan.

Great to see the groms getting better all the time. With only one event down the Rapanui Frostbite series is wide open.

A Stiff onshore breeze rendered the three to four foot surf bumpy and unpredictable for the IW Surf Club’s 17th annual competition at Compton Bay on Sunday, but an increasingly high standard of surfing was displayed as the competition progressed.

A close first heat saw Clive Richardson, Graham Skelley and Steve Williams proceed to the next stage in favour of Wayne Bradley, Mike Smith and Gail Streets, the only lady competitor.

Heat two produced and clear winner in Ray Hutchings. Barney Barnes and Dave Downer knocked out Roger Butler, Colin Graham and Dave Jacobs, thereby joining Hutchings in the final.

Meanwhile, a thriving junior section enabled the club to stage a special event for the under 16’s in which they demonstrated the rapid progress made this summer.

A worthy winner of this section was Paul Blackley who was presented with a trophy.

Conditions for the senior final improved with the diminishing wind, making for smoother if slightly smaller waves.

Hutchings, Richardson and Williams quickly established themselves with good, solid surfing in the available action., and a close result became likely.

Barnes, Skelley and Downer all surfed with competence but were eventually outclasse.

Richardson consolidated his earlier success with several long, left and right breaking waves which earned him thrid place.

Williams, riding a conventional single-fin board, and Hutchings, on a tri-fin design, were closely matched throughout the event.

It was Hutchings , however who edged ahead in the closing stages with a right-breaking wave, tightly ridden earning him a high score.

Final placings awarded by judges Dave Jacobs and Ann Macpherson were –

The 1980 Annual was finally wrapped up on 22 March. A meaty depression prowling round the mouth of the Channel produced totally maxed out Compton with onshore gales and waves breaking way out in the bay half way between the carpark and the most westerly visible point of the Tennyson Down. There was no alternative but to most the contest east of Niton to Hope, where it underway at midday.

A disappointment after the Saturday which was gutsy at 4-5 feet with very nice inside sections, the waves only managed to struggle up to 2 feet at most for the first heat. However, the six contestants in this heat made the most of a bad job, with Marcus Lloyd dominating to the accompaniment of raucous cheering from the kids on the cliff above and ‘Come on Marcus, give it some welly’ from his girlfriend. Mike Smith slid a few to the very inside, as did Dave Jacobs, but Simon Rolfe and Chris Hollis really needed bigger waves to show off their repertoire to its best advantage. Who didn’t?

Heat Two ripped, slashed and bogged out in similar waves – in fact there were a couple of reasonably-sized sets to break the monotony! Perennial champ Dave Gray adopted a ‘ride anything’ policy which paid off – he won his heat. Steve Williams and Mark Todd followed him through to the finals.

Yes, finals! As the tide dropped out, allowing the swell to break a bit bigger and more consistently, the six finalists paddled out for the decider. Keith slid from further out on a borrowed longboard (the right tool for the job?). Steve broke his fin off half way through a kick-out in the shore break and had to swap boards before many minutes of the final had passed. Dave and Marcus, being goofy, rode mainly lefts, the latter obeying his beach-callers instructions, giving it welly wherever possible, whereas the other four shared the remaining rights amongst them.

Final results were:1 Dave Gray, 2 Marcus Lloyd, 3 Keith Williams, 4 Steve Williams, 5 Mark Todd, 6 Dave Jacobs. Thanks to everyone who helped with the contest, in particular the judges Ann Macpherson and Dave Bottrell; Tony Macpherson for providing the duck-caller (modern technology!) and gallons of frothing tea; Steph for the coconut; especially our hallowed Hon Pres, Sir John, for traipsing from one side of the Island to the other with us, in search of waves – bless their cotton Damarts!

Day 2 of the South Coast Surfing Championships saw an early start at Compton Bay for all involved. After the postponement of the competition on the Saturday and swell due to build overnight, Matt Harwood had asked everyone to be at the beach for 7am for a 7.30am start.

I briefly checked Freshwater Bay on my way to Compton and the swell had definitely arrived. When I got to Compton there was a debate as to whether the competition should be moved to Freshwater Bay or even Niton. I was keen to have it moved to Freshwater Bay but the general opinion was for it to stay at Compton as the bay was out of control (later I was informed that a few guys had attempted to surf Freshwater Bay and had taken an absolute pounding). Matt made the right choice and opted to stay at Compton and start with the Juniors at 7.45am.

As the heats were being read out a huge set came into Compton and it looked really heavy. Extra safety precautions were put into place with the competitors being briefed about how to signal the beach if any of them were unhappy. There were definitely a few concerned faces but water safety was on hand from Chris Mannion and James Ranson if needed.

At one point James Ranson lost his board and was left with a long swim to the beach. Chris Mannion took great delight in this, and paddled over to give James a ride back to the beach telling everyone he had had to rescue James too. James got his own back later by becoming the 2011 South Coast Open Champion.

The Juniors were encouraged to stay on the inside and catch the re-formed waves but the rip still ensured that water safety guys was kept busy when competitors were swept too close to rocks or the wreck. One of the Juniors made it out the back and managed to catch one of the set waves, but it was before his heat had started and he then took about 10 waves on the head before deciding to come in and surf the re-forms with the other competitors.

As the Junior heats went on, the waves on the inside were getting better as the tide pushed up and they put on an impressive performance. Future South Coast Champions were really making the most of the inside waves. The Juniors surfed through to the Semi-finals and then had a break with the final scheduled for the mid afternoon.

The weather was awful with drizzle for most of the day and it was so dark you would almost think it was the middle of winter. This didn’t seem to put people off coming to watch as the car park was completely full and cars were parked all down the road along the grass bank too.

The Girls Junior Final saw IOW Surf Club’s Kirra Bell against Lucy Howell from Shore Surf Club. A brand new NSP surfboard sponsored by Rapanui was up for grabs in this final and both girls started well catching lots of waves. Eventually Lucy got the better for Kirra finding a couple of waves with a short clean wall on the inside to become Junior Girls 2011 South Coast Champion.

It was an all Island Final, and with the boys getting some free surfing in at lunchtime you could see we were in for a great final. It was fantastic to see the the future of Island surfing with Robin Forrest, Matt Townsend, Dom Arnold and Thomas Francis battling it out, wave for wave to become the South Coast Champion. Robin Forrest came out on top with a couple of great waves coming off the bottom and hitting the lip, sending spray everywhere.

The Saltrock Open 2011 went off in style this bank holiday weekend and ended with crowning a new champion – congratulations Johnny Fryer!

Saltrock Open

The Saltrock Open stole the show on what is now the busiest weekend of the year in Croyde, and an awesome view of the contest ground gave visitors a real buzz as they rounded Downend Point and came into Croyde. The waves were better than expected reaching 3 -4 ft on Sunday although it did drop off on Monday, and everyone who came to watch saw numerous great performances from the UKs top surfers.

The Men’s Open was strongly contested as predicted and was rounded off by a great final. The lead went back and forth throughout the final with Alan Stokes leading most of the way, then Russell Winter came back strongly only to be overtaken by new champion Johnny Fryer on the last wave of the heat.

The Women’s Open was won by Australian surfer Amy Stewart, and local Stuart Campbell put in a great performance to win the Pro Junior event.

The King of Watersports awards for the highest scoring waves went to Russell Winter with an 8.67 and to Lucy Campbell with an 8.5, both received on the final day of the contest.

Saltrock Open

UKPSA Director Dave Reed was stoked with how the event ran. “Another successful Saltrock contest despite the challenging conditions on the last day. With record entries and great support from Saltrock and Nike 6.0 as well as Marley Mellow Mood and Relentless plus numerous other organisations this well established event will go from strength to strength”

There was a great vibe at the contest with a good strong turnout and loads of spectators despite the grey skies and the rain! Christian Surfers did a great job keeping everyone well fed and watered with fabulous burgers, steaming teas and coffees and an endless supply of Relentless and Marley’s Mellow Mood!

Well done to everybody who entered – it was a great competition and we’re already looking forward to The Saltrock Open 2012!

In 1985 The Isle of Wight Surf Club produced a calender for sale to its members. It was pre-printed with all the years events, meetings and the tide times at Compton at the weekends. Highlights for that year were;

Starting this Saturday at 8am, the IOW Surf Club Frost Bite Series! Winter league. One Competition each Month. October to March Six events Best three results to count. So how does it work? The first Saturday of the month that has contestable waves means the contest is on. i.e. a rolling waiting period. Open Division […]

Over the last few months we have been given these lovely mugs that were given out at the 1982 and 1984 Isle of Wight Surf Club competitions. On the mugs it says they were sponsored by Burts Brewery. We would love to know more about the mugs and the competitions, if anyone has further information […]

Johnny Fryer made cover for The British Surfing Magazine Wavelength, issue Sept 168 in 2007. The article to go with the cover shot was entitled ‘The Magnificent 7 ride’. It was a piece about a boat trip to Indonesia with a selection of Britain’s best surfers Oli Adams, Gary & Danny Wells, Isaac Kibblewhite, Matty […]

Project contributors

About Wight Surf History

The Wight Surf History Project aims to document and celebrate 50 years of surfing on the Isle of Wight. It will tell the story of how surfing arrived and evolved on the Island, and the characters involved over the years. The contributors are two local surfers and photographers, Jason Swain & Paul Blackley and the project is supported by the 'West Wight Landscape Partnership'.